There seems to be a theme when it comes to traveling after the pandemic, things just aren’t as simple as they were before. Jon had made a reservation for a wheelchair accessible van – and in the morning that is not what showed up. There was issue after issue – but Andy decided it was time to at least load the suitcases and we would head to the train station.

Once we got there, we made our way to the “Assistance” office – different train station than what we’ve been dealing with when we went to Reims. I let them know that we were checking in for our train – and it seemed like we finally found a capable crew.

Now, enter the problem. Jon and Yvonne were having trouble hailing a cab to get to the train station. So although, I had checked in on Jon’s behalf. I didn’t have him there yet!

I think at this point the team started to think that I had an imaginary friend – but I didn’t want them to know that Jon wasn’t at the train station. “Oh, he went to go get coffee!” Or, “He went to the toilet – it’s so far away!” But eventually, the gentleman helped myself and Andy find the right platform with all of our luggage. And at this point, we really were approaching the 30 minute marker.

And that’s when Jon and Yvonne showed up. Hallelujah! I swear I heard angels singing. We quickly got on board – and had the luxury of sitting on a double decker train. When we were planning the trip, there was rail construction near Orange and we weren’t able to take the train all the way down to Avignon. Instead, we had to take the train to Lyon and rent a car and finish the drive.

Once we got the car rental, we decided to do a little exploring in Lyon. We started by finding the Bartholdi Fountain in the Place des Terreaux. The fountain was sculpted by the same individual who created the Statue of Liberty. It was really beautiful and definitely a center piece for the city.

From there, we had lunch and then made our way to a Roman amphitheater. This was really cool, and one of the things that I had read ahead of the trip was that if you want to see Roman architecture – go to France. It’s also obvious that the citizens of Lyon still use the set up for modern day events. We could see that they were preparing for an event – which is super cool!

It was also a quick walk up to the Basilica – this church had a lot of different mosaics. It was really beautiful. This particular church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There was one dedicated to Joan of Arc.

At this point we started our drive from Lyon to Avignon. This drive would normally take 2.5-3 hours. It ended up taking us 5 hours to get to the Avignon area – it almost felt like we were driving through LA! Yikes!

We were able to check into our hotel – Hotel De L’Atelier which is in Villeneuve les Avignon. (Across the river from Avignon and considerably cheaper per night). Jon and Yvonne had stayed at this hotel in 2003 – so they could vouch for it. It was super cute, and we were grateful that Jon had made reservations for 7:30, because of traffic we were cutting it close for even that!

Up Next:
-Wine tasting in Chateauneuf du Pape